Whilst
photographing some rather lovely and neglected old tools in a
neighbour's shed, I was struck by the similarity of some wrenches to a
small shoal of fish. Amused and intrigued, I began to look for, and find
many more. The outcome was this 'Icthusian Fantasy'. Based on little
more than a passing visual likeness, through
arrangement, lighting and colour the heavy lifeless metal
objects are transformed and imbued with the boyancy and life of marine
creatures and plants, becoming a bizarre and fascinating coral reef.

The
composite image below is made up of 20 separate prints, each from a
black and white negative, scanned and coloured. The original set was
printed conventionally, dual split toned blue and yellow, and then hand
tinted using water colours.

Although
achieving consistency of image quality across 20 separate prints caused
me a few headaches, I was rewarded with a Fellowship in Contemporary
Photography by the Royal Photographic Society.

**Ghoti - pronounced "fish", by enunciating the gh as in enough, the o
as in women, and ti as in station.